Steam-engine



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

H. KNEBEL.

STEAM ENGINE.

No. 349,888. i g Patented Sept. 28,1886.

WITNESSES INVENTOR 1 M9 16 JQWM/ ATTORNEYS.

N. PETERS. wwm-umu her. Wilhinglulh n. c.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

H. KNEBEL.

STEAM ENGINE. No. 349,888. Patented Sept. 28, 1886.

WITNESSES Ii I i I I INVENTOR: wa MM 96 ATTORNEYS.

u. wanna. mmumq n ner, Wilhmgwn. u c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN KNEBEL, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

STEAM-ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,888, dated September 28, 1886.

Application filed March 19, 1886. Serial No. 195,858. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HERMAN KNEBEL, of Birmingham, in the county of Jefferson and State of Alabama, have invented a new and Improved Steam-Engine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention is an improvement in rotary engines; and it consists in certain features of construction and novel combinations of parts, as will be described.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a sectional view drawn transversely through the piston-casing. Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the engine, drawn horizontally of the shaft. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the machine, parts being shown in section; and Fig. 4 is an end elevation of the engine.

The main frame supports a shell or casing, having end plates, 1, and the cylindrical portion 2. Into the latter open the guides or receptacles for the valves or blades Z, which are spring-supported at d, and thereby held normally at their extreme innermost point. The end plates may have boxes, as 3, for the shaft m. On this shaft are placed glands having internal chambers i, and at opposite ends of these glands are arranged packing-rings 4 4, the inner ones being held against the end plates or the boxes thereof, and the outer one being secured in place by collars s, as shown. The chambers 13 are connected by pipes 5 6 with valve-chamber 7. This chamber has a steam-pipe, 8, and an exhaust-pipe, k, and within it I arrange a valve, 9, suitably constructed and supported to be adjusted to cause pipes 5 and 6 to communicate, respectively, with the steam and exhaust pipes, or with the exhaust and steam pipes, according as it is desired to drive the engine in one direction or the other.

On the shaft m, within the shell, I form or secure a piston, a, which is provided with a radial head, b, the outer edge of which moves close to and against the portion 2, as shown. From this head inclined ribs 0 lead downward on opposite sides to the circumference of the body of the piston, and serve to adjust the valves outward in the operation of the device to permit the piston-head to pass said valves. It will be noticed that the pistons are notched out at e at the base of the ribs. The purpose of these notches is to let the steam out as soon as the ribs engage the blades, in order to relieve the pressure on the valves.

Channels ff are formed in the shaft m, and extend for the greatest part of their length longitudinally of the same. These channels open at their outer ends, one into each of the channels 2', and at their inner ends through the piston, and out thereof on opposite sides of the head b, and these channels serve, one to conduct the steam to operate the piston and the other to carry off the exhaust, according to the adjustment of the valve, as before referred to.

It is preferred to form the head Z) and ribs 0 separate from the body of the piston, and of an internal semicircular form to fit thereon, as shown most clearly in Fig. 1, the body being formed with shoulders 9, to form abutments for the ends of said head and ribs to prevent the same from turning on the head.

By my improvements it will be seen I avoid dead-centers by causing the crank-pin or eccentric portion to serve as a pistonhead, and the engine may be revolved in either direction with equal facility.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A rotary engine having a shaft provided with a piston having a head, and with steamchannels opening at theirinner ends on opposite sides of the head, and extended thence outward in opposite directions, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination of the casing or shell having blades Z, the piston having head Z), and a rib, c, and having a notch, e, at the base of such rib, substantially as set forth.

3. The combination of the casing, the shaft having a piston-head and provided with ehannels opening at their inner ends on opposite sides of the head, and extended thence out-- ward in opposite directions, the valve-chamher and valve, and the pipes connecting said chamber with the channels of the shaft, and extended on opposite sides of the casing, substantially as set forth.

4. The combination of the casing or shell, the shaft having a piston-head and channeled, substantially as described, the glands h, having internal chambers, i, registering with the outer ends of the channels of the shaft, the

valve and its chamber, and pipes connecting the live steam to and discharge the exhaust said chamber and the glands, substantially as from the piston, a gland having an internal set forth; chamber and fitted over the outer end of the 5. In a rotary engine, a piston formed of a five-steam channel, and a pipe for supplying 15 5 body portion having a portion of itsperiphery steam to the gland, substantially as set forth.

cut away, forming shoulders 9 9, and the head Signed this 2d day of March, 1886.

and ribs conformed to the body portion and the ribs abutting at their ends the shoulders 7 HERMAN KNEBEL' 9, substantially as set forth. Witnesses: 1:0 6. The combination of the shaft having a H. PLOEGER,

piston-head and channels whereby to conduct FRANK HEIDE. 

